Ecalos

Congratulations!

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all the well wishes! It wasn't painful at all

My mom and I stayed at the Days Inn that's like... 3 buildings down from the consulate. The morning of, we arrived there at about 9:40. I waited outside the door until the security guy on the inside noticed me. He asked what I wanted, I said I was there for a K-1 interview. He said ok, wait here, and left me outside in the rain for a few minutes until the person in front of me cleared security.

The girl inside checked my name off a list and made me empty my pockets and take off my jacket. She then rifled through my expandable folder of goodies (paying a LOT of attention to the letters between Rob and I) and then told me to go upstairs. Once there, the elevator is pretty much the only place you can go. There's a door to the right but a security guy asks why you're there, and then calls the elevator for you. Off the (stupid fast; it made my ears pop) elevator and to the left is more security. Same procedure except they paid a lot less attention.

Security guy waved me through to the right and then left around the corner. If you get lost, seriously just wave your interview letter and shout "K-1" with a panicked look on your face. Like, 9 people will unanimously point in the correct direction.

I sat down in the little K Visa section. It's a small hallway with crappy blue chairs, and so narrow if someone needs to get by you have to squish. I was joined shortly thereafter by a K-3 couple and another K-1.

I didn't get the list of documents. Instead a really nice younger guy called me up to the window and asked for them all in order. There was some confusion over the Affadavit of Support... I don't think he heard me say we had a co-sponsor because he was saying something about not enough proof for Rob's affadavit. That got cleared up in short order when I passed him Rob's dad's stuff.

If I recall.. he asked for (in this order) Passport, DS-156 (2 copies), DS-156K, my birth certificate, Affadavit of Support and "supporting documents", Medical.

A note: He didn't specifically ask for W2s, he DID ask for a letter from employer. I gave 2 yrs income tax, some mutual fund things and a letter. He didn't ask me for anything else and I didn't give paystubs (although I had them with me). Also, again no, you don't need your x-rays, but mine were all stapled together so I couldn't really separate the medical and the x-rays. He also asked to keep the mutual fund papers.

By the time he was done all of this, it was maybe 10:10. I was asked to go down the hall and pay my $100.00 fee, and then come back with my reciept and sit down. He didn't ask me for the reciept back. I didn't have a watch and, of course, no cellphones. The husband of the other K-3 couple was kind enough to give us the time. We all sat and waited and chatted til 11:00. Then we were all 3 called up for fingerprinting (digital) and told to go sit again. At maybe 11:15 I was called to Window 3 around the corner for my "interview".

He asked first whether my fiance was with me (no), and then when we met, how we met, how often we had met in real life, what the longest period of time I'd stayed in the U.S. with Rob was, whether I'd ever worked in the U.S., and what Rob did. He mentioned that even though Rob was planning on working right after graduation (which I had told him), that his income probably wouldn't be enough for the I-864. I said I know and we were planning on having his father co-sponsor again. I also said his parents were great and had offered to fly out to Vancouver in case I needed them. He smiled at that and said "well that's really great." Then he said that everything looked in order, and I was to return at 2:00 to pick up my visa. He asked for my cashier's reciept and took half of it, gave me the other half, and told me to show them that at the door.

My mom and I went for a walk and for lunch, then to the bank, and then back to the consulate. Outside there was now a little sign that said "No Loitering. Return to pick up Visas at 2:45pm." I stared at that, somewhat dismayed, and then walked in anyway. The woman at security told me K-1s "are whenever you are told, ignore the sign, that's for everyone else." So I went up again, the security guy recognized me and we chatted. I went back to the K-1 area and was given my package of "DO NOT OPEN" goodies and my shiny new Visa

All in all, it was SO painless lol. YES I IGNORED EVERYONE THAT TOLD ME THE SAME. But the people at the consulate were SO nice, and being so well prepared (THANK YOU VJ!) made it sooooooo easy. The other K-1 may have been in some trouble; she didn't have an original copy of her divorce certificate. I left before I found out the results of that though.

Anyway that's it! Time to head home and finish packing. If I forgot anything I'll try and edit-to-add it.

Oh God I just woke up and I'm already feeling sick about it.

My mom and I are taking the ferry across from Victoria to Vancouver in about an hour. I'm gonna have to take some Gravol lol.

Hopefully all the travelling will keep my mind off it.

Also since I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to get online beforehand, good luck at your interview as well Cass!

Take care everyone!

-Les

lol yeah I read that and was like

Good luck!

Congratulations!!!

Hmmm. I also like Lip Venom. I don't wear a lot of makeup though.

Good mascara and lip gloss are my basics.

Also as far as skincare goes, I love anything from Lush.

I'm not sure about the issue with Boulder. I would think not though because Rob and I went there to visit his brother and we were smoking outside... I would think if it were and issue (even if it wasn't actively enforced) he would have mentioned it to us.

BUT I don't know for sure.

congrats! Glad to hear it! And yes I think montreal is very cold right now lol

Congrats!!

I got stopped and had my carry-on luggage searched right before boarding the plane (in the boarding walkway). The woman kept insisting that my two microscopes -one dissecting scope, one compound scope- were "sculptures". #######? Sculptures of what? She made me so angry.

Man some people are weird.

I put the last 3 ( those were all fiance related ) but I put nothing before that. I've been in an out, travelled to, from, and through the US a LOT since I was really young ( Talking 6 months old here ) however the last time I was there for more than a few hours was.. probably when I was around 11 years old. If they question it, I'll mention the fact, I'm not trying to hide it, but for the life of me I can't remember the dates from that long ago.

The CSC Processing time doesn't mean #######... Just ignore it. Much less stress if you stop checking it every day.

Oh I'm sure it will be, but this whole visa process has turned me into a paranoid quivering blob of helplessness!

Which reminds me I have something to post in the Murphy's Law thread

ROFL.

I -LEFT- all that kinda stuff in the US for exactly that reason! I wouldn't worry too much though I'm sure they've seen much worse!

My personal Murphy's Immigration Law is, the minute you say "FINALLY I have EVERY PIECE OF PAPER I NEED." You will invariably notice that something is not signed

I like that idea.

Murphy's Immigration Laws.

Anyone wanna start it??

Rofl.

I'm going through the EXACT same thing. All my packing is done (if Kathryn reads this I've given up on customs, I will take my freakin' chances lol) all my forms are filled out, signed, ready to go, photocopied, notarized, and rearranged for the 32nd consecutive time today.

And so I sit, staring at the clock.

I got a little lucky though, my mom lives in Victoria, so I'm flying out there to visit her prior to the interview (I leave on the 13th, interview 23rd) which oughta make it go by a little faster. She will take the ferry across to Vancouver with me on the 22nd and we have a hotel booked. She has decided to come along for moral support, and on TOP of that, she will fly back to Winnipeg with me on the 23rd to help me finalize everything and move on the 26th.

Hang in there Cass, I feel ya. It's a shame our interviews aren't on the same day.

Looks good.

I'm one of the weirdos who has 2 notarized copies of the Affadavit of Support

Letters from employers, paystubs, etc.

But... as far as tax returns go I have last years from each sponsor clearly marked "COPY" which I'll make my own photocopies of sometime this week, and then a 10 lb pile of old tax returns simply printed out on legal size paper. None of these are notarized. I put up a fight about this and lost; both my fiance and his parents (co-sponsors) argued that there is no place to notarize tax returns, or they are unable to be notarized or something like that, and refused to do it.

So I guess I'm goin' in with them unsigned /shrug.

I'm not happy about it but there's precisely nothing I can do.

They also refused to send me W2s, saying they were useless. Since I'm not a USC, I have no idea whether any of this is true.

Edited for spelling.

Thanks for writing that up!

I'm somewhat surprised to hear about all the questioning in regards to finances. Has me a little worried, because Rob is in school currently and isn't even working. We have 2 Co-Sponsors (his two parents) so I'm hoping everything will be ok

So sorry to hear about your PoE experience I wonder if it would have gotten better as the day progressed? Maybe they're just not morning people

Yay! Congratulations!!!

No news yet?!??! She's keeping us all in suspense

Even though I'm sure it all went fine and she got the visa, I still wanna hear about it

Good luck!! I'm sure it will all go smoothly!

No it isn't your passport number.

It is your alien fiance's Alien Registration Number, which, if you're just starting to file now, he/she wont have. Just put "None" in there.

Thanks, that's what I thought

You don't have to go to the trouble of uploading it though, he has a copy down in the states that he can just print out and fill in at will.

Thanks again

If you marry in Canada, you're filing for a K-3

If you marry in the US, you might get in trouble with USCIS for entering the US with the "intent to marry". But you could go the K-3 route or maybe Adustment of status.

At any rate... if you marry before you start any sort of Visa work, you're going the k-3 route.

If you get approved for a K-1, you MUST marry in the US. If you married in Canada you would have to abandon the K-1 and go K-3 route.

Do you need one of these from each Affadavit of Support Co-Sponsor? Or just one from the fiance(e)?